Gavin Morgan

22 May, 2007

SHETLAND born singer-songwriter Astrid Williamson is hoping her third solo album The Day of The Lone Wolf will send her career into the stratosphere.

Astrid has just completed a 12 date British tour supporting American soul singer Michael Bolton, finishing up with two dates at the Royal Albert Hall in London

Though the tour went well, the singer did have some reservations about the line up. "I don't think it was the perfect bill for me, as the style of music was not entirely compatible. Although I did sell a lot of records every night.

"The Albert Hall was phenomenal, you could hear a pin drop and that was a really stunning experience, because of the history of the place. It was amazing to play that huge venue twice and the audience really listened."

Astrid lived in Scalloway until she was seven and then moved to Quarff in the south of the island till she was 13, moving to Manchester from there. But the islands have always held a place in her heart and she still lives in hope of returning to play one day.

"I hated leaving Shetland. I was really devastated, it broke my heart. It would be lovely to come back and play my new material at the folk festival with my band."

Music was in her blood. Her dad was a self taught, piano and banjo playing fish merchant, while her mum, a classical musician who trained as an opera singer, taught Astrid the piano.

She seemed to have a natural talent and from an early age she has variously sung, played fiddle, guitar, piano and any musical instrument that came to hand.

Now she is a highly experienced touring musician, having completed her first major tour in 1996 with the band Goya Dress, formed while Astrid was completing a music degree in piano and composition from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

The band had good critical support when they came out amid the short lived Brit-Pop movement led by Oasis and Blur. Their one album for Nude records, Rooms, was produced by legendary art-rock pioneer John Cale, formerly of The Velvet Underground and producer of Patti Smith's classic 1975 album, Horses. He was a "powerful presence", she said.

Despite support from the critics, the album faltered commercially and record company pressure on the band pushed Astrid into a solo career.

She recorded one more album for Nude in 1998, Boy For You, which received the same public response - good critical notices but poor sales. She has long since given up trying to figure out why she's failed to make the big time.

"I've never really known what the thing is that would ignite the public imagination. To be honest I think its just publicity and being in the public domain. I personally have never been able to get on the radio. I think if Radio One or Two had picked up on it then it would have been alright.

"I don't take it personally any more, I don't think there is anything wrong with what I am doing."

After these disappointments, Astrid financed her own record label Incarnation Records and took the time to write material for an eponymous album in 2004.

A return to touring climaxed with an appearance at Glastonbury, which revitalised her creative spirit, and she began making demo tracks for The Day Of The Lone Wolf.

"Essentially I stayed in my room for two weeks and demo'd a track a day. I was determined to know what kind of record I was making rather than looking outside myself for reassurance and guidance as I'd previously done working with producers."
The title came from a book called The Secret Language of Birthdays that explored the esoteric nature of everyone's day of birth. Astrid's, of course, was the day of the lone wolf.

The new album has the sound of a record designed for commercial heights. Instead of going it alone, this time it's being released by Icelandic superstar Björk's label One Little Indian.

"One Little Indian has always aspired to letting artists have a lot of creative control over their own musical destiny. Also it gets lonely if you do things all by yourself all the time.

"I spend a lot of time fighting for my audience and I think it would be really nice to have an audience that is there just to see you. Then I could just play and they would know the songs, that would be great."

Tracks on the new album such as Superman 2, Reach, SHHH and Tonight could easily fit alongside any modern commercial music in the market place.

If Astrid can get the promotion and exposure she needs there's no reason to think she won't be looking at the big time.

Though this is clearly what she aspires to, it won't be at the cost of producing music she is not personally satisfied with.

"When you start to analyse great songwriters that have had a long, long career you start to understand that the bar is a bit higher than your average churned out, marketed pop music.

"I have devoted all of my career to being a songwriter and happily so. I am proud of the work I have done and that's enough actually.

"I would love to be a great big smash hit, but I have always kept my standards really high. That's important to me."

The new album has already been released in America and comes out in Britain for the first time on 7 June.